Board of Directors Review Recreation, Public Works and Sanitation Budgets

The Board of Directors braved the snow and sleet Tuesday night to hold their first workshop to review General Manager Scott Shanley's $203,737,597 spending proposal for the 2012-13 fiscal year, scouring the budgets of the Recreation and Public Works departments and the Sanitation Fund. 

calls for a 1.9 percent rise in taxes and increases overall town spending by 2.2 percent. 

Highlights from the departments budgets reviewed Tuesday are as follows: 

Recreation

• The town's Recreation budget actually decreased by $31,110 over the current year to $2.85 million, but the decrease was primarily attributable to the transfer of $188,690 in electrify and heating costs from its budget to the Public Works Department (which a number of other departments in town will also do during the 2012-13 fiscal year). 
• Increased costs include $8,692 to the Board of Education for custodial fees at the Mahoney Recreation Center, which had previously come out of the Board of Education's budget. $6,500 will go to reseal the gym floor at the Mahoney Recreation Center. An increase of $3,580 in the costs of operating summer camps due to the addition of one new summer camp site (Buckley School). And $6,600 in new software. 
• Fees for a membership card will rise from $5 to $10.

Public Works

• The Public Works Department's total budget is $13.53 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year, an increase of 4.2 percent, or $545,954, over the current fiscal year. The increase is largely due to the shift of all General Fund building utilities and traffic signal maintenance costs to the Public Works budget, which adds $462,450 to the department's overall budget; if not for the utilities addition, Public Works' budget would only have increased by $83,504 or 0.6 percent.
• The Engineering Department's budget will decrease by $39,060, which is due to the elimination of the Utility Engineer position and the freezing of a Civil Engineer position; the position of Town Engineer has been re-established under the new budget, resulting in a net decrease of one full-time position in the department. 
• There is an additional $25,000 added to the budget for tree maintenance to . An additional $36,460 has also been added for anticipated higher gas and diesel fuel costs. 
• The town plans to pave 7.4 miles of roads in 2012. 
• The Public Works Department will be responsible for $18 million in construction projects in 2012-13, including the . Repairs to the will be delayed until 2013, so that construction work planned for the eastern end of Spring Street at South Main Street can be completed prior to that. 

Sanitation Fund 

• Since 2009-10, the town's Sanitation Fund has seen a 30 percent increase in recycling tonnage, and the recycling rate saw a three percent increase from February of 2011 to February of 2012. 
• During that same time period - which is when the town began its Single Stream Recycling efforts - collection of municipal solid waste has seen a 12 percent decrease. 
• The increase in recycling will net the town an additional $165,240 in collection fees in 2012-13, while the decrease in curbside disposal will save the town $105,000. 
• The state has extended the town's Solid Waste Permit for the commercial landfill off Olcott Street until 2025. 
• The Vacuum Leaf Collection Program will remain in the budget in 2012-13 at the cost of $279,997. That program was suspended this year due to the heavy debris accumulated by Winter Storm Alred. 

The Board of Directors will review Shanley’s budget department by department in a series of workshops throughout the better part of the next month, before voting to approve a budget for the coming fiscal year in mid-April. The next scheduled budget meeting is a Public Hearing to allow residents the opportunity to comment on Shanley's proposal Wednesday, March 7, in the auditorium of Waddell Elementary School.